Water
Living Water
In impoverished nations, women and children walk for miles to access water source that are often dirty and full of bacteria and arsenic. Mercy works with ministry partners to provide community wells and filtration systems, so families and communities have access to clean, safe drinking water.
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
John 4:14
Cause Overview
Having pure and fresh drinking water is essential to everyone around the world. But it is tough to manage in the remote and tropical areas in Bangladesh. The people in these regions work hard to get fresh water, but failure to manage contaminants leads them to get infected by waterborne diseases like diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid caused by Arsenic.
Arsenic causes a disease that slowly attacks the human body. Life is not secure without fresh drinking water, which saves lives and helps a nation grow healthy and disease-free. The problem was first identified in 1987 when the poisonous water, which comes naturally from the groundwater, concentrated more than 50 milligrams per liter of water. Skin lesions, vomiting blood, diarrhea, and cancerous bladder disease are Arsenic symptoms. But the lighter sign is so challenging to identify as Arsenic. As a result, the disease gets the scope to spread into the body and lead lives to death.
Between forty and fifty thousand people from tropical and remote areas of Bangladesh get infected with diseases. This is because of insufficient deep tube wells and scarcity of freshwater. One person can get infected with Arsenic by using or drinking water sourced from canals, rivers, ponds, and even tube wells that are not installed measuring depth limits.
The best solution to the problem is to dig deep tube wells in high-risk areas and bring awareness to the people living there of the dangerous effects of Arsenic. Though the Government assured to cover 70% of high-risk areas to solve the problem by installing deep tube wells, they have only successfully reached 30% of the total demand. The rest of the susceptible areas have no progress toward a specific solution. As a result, people are still getting infected with Arsenic and suffering from terrible diseases.
The most precious gift
Tauhida lost her daughter to typhoid from unsanitary drinking water. Since then, clean water for her family and community has been of great concern. “It was a necessity for our village to have a water well. I cannot imagine life without safe water. You have given me the most precious gift of security. I am grateful.”